My Life As I Knew It
by Moonraker One
Summary: This is the story of a young woman named Alyssa Martin...before and after she became a cyborg... Gx18 pairing later on...
1. Chapter One

My Life as I Knew It  
  
By Moonraker One  
  
Note: Her "battle outfit" is the same as the one that she has in the show when she is first released from her pod, with the exception of the ski mask.  
  
CHAPTER ONE - First Booting  
  
Life was an interesting thing; sometimes, what you think is a good choice, and perhaps IS a good choice, does not provide you with the fulfillment you need.  
  
For Alyssa Martin, life was good. She had a steady job, a more-than-excellent paycheck, and her own house. All of what was going on seemed to add up on more than one level. Yet, as most teenagers do, she felt a dire lack of accomplishment, as though she still needed to do something more with her life. But, alas, it had always been this way.  
  
"How are you, this fine morning, Alyssa?" inquired her employer, main science manager of Centra laboratories. When she looked up at him, she gave her usual smile that was phony. For at least a year now, she had felt as though she was merely going through the motions of being alive. No one seemed to notice it, and it was beginning to be annoying that she was the only one to see.  
  
Her brother Jack was a party-type. He loved wherever the action was, and that was one of the main things that drove a wedge in their relationship earlier in their teens. Their parents noticed at a very early age that Alyssa was the smarter of the two. She always used to impress her parents with her genius IQ, and it was the reason that she had skipped many grades and gone to college at a very early point in her teens. It was also why her brother was repeating his senior year; he did not like how much smarter than him she was, and it made him lose his concentration often. Anyway, she achieved, miraculously, this job after College, and she liked it. She looked over; someone was waving her over to the restricted area.  
  
"We need your help on the code here," Bill said as he looked into the computer screen. "We intercepted a transmission from the headquarters of the Red Ribbon Army, and we can't seem to break the code. You're the expert, help us!"  
  
She approached the big screen on the wall, and Bill displayed on the large screen the list of numbers. She looked at the list, which appeared to be a garbled mass of numbers. Something about it, however, just seemed to jump out at her. She pressed her finger against certain numbers.  
  
"The computer can't seem to locate a pattern," her supervisor explained. "We have several possible ciphers, if you care to look at them."  
  
"Six, four, three, seven, two, one," Alyssa uttered silently.  
  
"Uh, what?" asked the supervisor. "I didn't quite understand that."  
  
She looked back at him. "These numbers are parts of Cerkeon's formula."  
  
The supervisor looked at the board. When the numbers were put into the formula, all of it seemed to spell out Cerkeon's formula perfectly. He smiled and cursed silently.  
  
"Well I'll be damned," he swore, "I can't believe you outsmarted our super-computer on breaking this code. That's why you're the main analyst."  
  
She approached her supervisor. "What's Cerkeon's formula being used for?" she asked. "I remember it was a formula for cybernetics."  
  
"That'll be all," he replied predictably. "I'll have someone escort you back to the unrestricted area."  
  
She exited the area, and headed for the employee break room. It was bizarre that the supervisor be so uneager to tell her what the code was for, but then again, Centra labs was intercepting enemy transmissions from Red Ribbon army headquarters all the time. It was funny, really that a large corporation stood against an army that stood unchallenged by foreign militaries. She would have guessed that the CEO would have decided to join up with the army after a while.  
  
The coffee was old and stale, but at least it was warm. She compared the company coffee to chalk, but it kept her awake after her fifth hour of work. She could not stand the eight hours of work every day when all she did was crunch numbers. For the very least, it paid better than most jobs available on the market at this point. Sitting down in her favorite break room chair, she pulled out her bundle of paperwork that she was to analyze and calculate. Fourteen pages of calculations wore away at a person's mind after the fourth month. She had worked here the better part of what was anyone else her age's school year. It got harder every day, but at least there were fewer difficulties.  
  
She used her calculator and pen and in the space of a thirty-minute period, had every formula solved and every number crunched. As she prepared to get up from the chair, she felt a little woozy. She practically walked into one of her bosses as she exited the break room. He looked in her eyes and saw that something was wrong. "You okay?" he kindly asked.  
  
"I think I'm coming down with something," she replied, using the opportunity to her advantage. "Can I have the rest of the day off?"  
  
He nodded. "Of course!" he said, patting her on the shoulder. "You're my best analyst!"  
  
She waved and exited the break room, careful not to spill her coffee on her suit. She slid her papers into the slot that was the usual slot in the door, and found her way to the outside. In addition to what strength she had left, she got in her car and barely managed to put the key in the slot. Then she passed out.  
  
"You lasted longer than I expected," said a middle-aged woman as she slid Alyssa over to the passenger side. "I figured I'd have to drag you out of the building. You're definitely the one."  
  
The woman started the car and put the seat belt on Alyssa. She brushed some blonde hair away from Alyssa's face. This young girl was headed somewhere up in the hills, but where was anyone's guess. The middle-aged woman had a white scientist's suit on, and had a determined smile on her face. The woman looked in the back seat at her assistant, who had helped her along. Then, they took off.  
  
When Alyssa woke up, she woke up groggily, and found out she was nearly naked and strapped to a cold metal table. Someone spread out her arms and legs and chained them down. Her vision was blurry at first but she inevitably regained use of her sight. In front of her was a woman in her fifties, and a brown-haired man at her side.  
  
"Welcome to the Western mountains," the woman said. "My assistant Mike is right here, and I'm Erika. But you, for the sake of our friendship, can call me Doctor Gero."  
  
She popped her head up as if shot by a gun, for it was all she could move. "Gero?" Alyssa inquired. "I thought you were a guy."  
  
The woman chuckled a bit. "So, you've heard of my father?" Erika said. "He's dead-set on creating the perfect android. I, on the other hand, am going about the same thing, only differently."  
  
"What are you planning?" asked a nervous Alyssa.  
  
"For one," Erika explained, "I'm not as evil as he is. I have created a design that is in far improvement of my father's. And, unlike his androids, mine don't have to die first."  
  
"So, you're going to make me into a robot?"  
  
Erika chuckled again. "No, a cyborg. They are much more advanced. And for that matter, your design will be nanotechnology."  
  
"You mean...trillions of microscopic machines about the size of cells?"  
  
The scientist woman nodded. "I will turn an ordinary Human woman into a perfect machine! That person is you!"  
  
Alyssa was nervous, for she did not want to be someone's experiment, but for some reason, she did not want to struggle. Erika reached into a thick steel briefcase and pulled out what must have been the longest needle possible. This was a major turn-off for Alyssa, especially when Erika put fluid in the tube of the syringe and it was silvery metallic color.  
  
"When you wake up, your current self will be a fraction of what you'll become."  
  
When Erika slowly slid the needle under Alyssa's skin, it seemed to hurt, but not as much as that long a needle should. In fact, she hardly felt it. Once again, to her dismay, her vision blurred then faded to black altogether.  
  
Upon waking, she looked at her surroundings; they were the same. At first, nothing seemed different, but after a minute, she noticed a new feature. In the lower left portion of her vision, in small digits, was the current date and time. In addition, she noticed that she had a drop-down digital calendar. She had been asleep for about seven hours.  
  
"The waking is always the most interesting part," Erika said. "You feel strange. You feel a number of new feelings all at once. Try your energy powers."  
  
She looked excitedly at Erika, for Alyssa was a big fan of movies like martial arts movies where the fighters used ki. "You aren't serious," Alyssa replied.  
  
Alyssa sat up (her restraints were gone), and ran out of the small laboratory carved into a mountain. She looked down, and boy, was it a long way down. She closed her eyes and leaped off of the ledge, and tried to fly, but was unable. She screamed as she plummeted to the ground and landed with a boom. She picked herself up, and noticed a jagged rock tore off her arm; it rapidly regenerated itself. She checked her internal files—she now had that ability—and learned how to use energy.  
  
She felt her internal, artificial energy, and pushed it out of her feet. Halfway up, she opened her eyes. To her great surprise, she was flying! She looked down at a small gathering of trees. Extending her palm, she fired a small burst of artificial ki. Oops, too much, almost a full acre of forest she had vaporized. She had intended only a few trees. Oh well, she would work on that later. Right now, she could really fly! She came back into the little laboratory.  
  
"What'd you do to me?!" happily and excitedly cried Alyssa.  
  
Erika smiled and folded her arms. "I made you virtually a goddess. Now, I shall call you Jinzouningen Juuhachigou, or, actually, just Juuhachigou."  
  
Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "'Cyborg Eighteen?'" she said, confused. "Why?"  
  
"Because," Erika explained, "you're the first android of your design to live. The first seventeen attempts died. Mike here isn't a nano-droid like you."  
  
Alyssa put her hands on her hips. "Is there any other 'optional features' you equipped me with?!" she joked.  
  
"Yeah. You don't age."  
  
That REALLY made Alyssa smile and jump for joy. She could not believe it; not age? You mean she was going to be eighteen years old forever!? This was just too good to be true. Yet it was. Erika was a nice woman, unlike her father who was a sadistic bastard, and she let Alyssa go on her own way. She did not want to control her; she just wanted to know that she could outdo her father with her own brand of cybernetics. For years, she had wondered if she would ever be able to do as good as Doctor William Gero, who was her father, and now she had done MORE than him. Life was good.  
  
Alyssa had kept her own name, she just liked 'Juuhachigou' better. It was a new experience, going back to work with her new abilities, because now she never got tired. Before, she would always be hitting her seventh cup of coffee just to stay awake, she now had unlimited stamina, which meant no more extreme coffee binges. Her co-workers also noticed a strange, new feeling of completeness that she lacked before. Her friend, John, was one of the first to complement her.  
  
"Hey, Alyssa!" he called out, running up from down the hall. "You look great! Just a few days ago, you looked pathetically tired. Now, you look like you're ready to take on the entire world!"  
  
"Yeah," she chuckled. "Ready to take anyone. Wanna go?"  
  
He smiled, jokingly, and put up his hands in defense. "Uh, no thanks," he exclaimed, "you'd probably kick my ass."  
  
[You have NO idea,] she thought.  
  
From that point, she exited the main area and went straight for the boss's office. Because of her new enhancements—and a tad of cockiness—she figured it was time for him to give her a raise. Either that or she would quit that very day. It was a brash move, and if she was on any other day, she would not have given it a second thought, but now she had gotten too far pumped up not to. When she knocked on his door, and he signaled for her to come in, he had a look of expectation on his face.  
  
"Alyssa," he said, catching her JUST before she was about to say something. "I'd been thinking. You are our best analyst, and I was thinking; perhaps it's time to give you a raise. I was thinking a promotion too."  
  
This was unusual; was he reading her mind, or was he seriously considering giving her a raise and promotion?  
  
"I'm serious, Alyssa," he repeated. "We need minds like yours. The Red Ribbon Army has attacked one of our main bases and we can't let them defeat us."  
  
Alyssa smiled with a childishly wide grin; this was one of the perfect opportunities to test her new abilities out, and she already had a plan. "Mister Abrems?" she replied. "I'm honored that you have such faith in my abilities. I am ready for whatever you have planned for me."  
  
"Alyssa," he explained, grinning, "I have it set up so that you will be our main strategist for counter-attacks and preventative measures to protect our supply bases. I'll give you your first project immediately." He slid a file folder over the desk to her. She picked it up and began analyzing it immediately. Her now-cybernetic mind had the entire problem and solution calculated in only a few seconds of reading the paper. She looked up at him.  
  
"The best thing to do would be to set up secondary defenses on the main entrance to the base, and to have air support surrounding it. Then, as their troops invade from three different sides, have a third defense squad at the rear entrance. If you hit them hard enough initially, they'll either surrender or if they do fight, they'll be easily dealt with until tertiary reinforcements arrive."  
  
Mister Abrems shook his head, and gave an amazed whistle. "Wow. I'm impressed." With a satisfied look on her face, she left the room. As she walked down the hallway, she discovered another unique feature of herself; auto-defense and, auto-detection. She could not only feel her own artificial ki level, she could sense the ki signatures of everyone who was within a hundred foot radius of her. Walking by the trash can, she ripped the watch off her wrist, and with one quick squeeze, crushed it and released the particles into the wastebasket. It was a tool that was no longer needed now that she had an internal digital clock and calendar.  
  
The workday ended about six and a half hours later, and she walked to her car as the night began to close in. She got in her car and fired up the engine, and took off towards her house on the outskirts of the city. Once the city limits sign faded from view, and she pulled into the driveway of her house, she saw the woman who'd changed her life standing on her front lawn. Exiting the vehicle, she approached Erika.  
  
"Doctor Gero?" Alyssa asked the familiar face. "How'd you find my house?"  
  
"I looked it up in your memory banks earlier," Erika said. "I just came by to see how you were doing, and to let you know that I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone you are an android. I don't want that kind of attention." Alyssa had a look of questioning on her mind. "What's troubling you?" asked Erika.  
  
"I...I looked you up in a science journal," Alyssa explained. "It said you were once an employee of Centra labs, where you were fired for using company equipment for personal things. You were later arrested for stealing company equipment but they never pressed charges. What was the deal with that?"  
  
Erika looked down. "I used to work as their chief scientist, until they got a little cocky and wanted me to begin my cybernetics project for them. I refused, and they fired me," she explained. "I stole equipment because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to start a nano-droid project on my own, and I threatened to expose their CEO as a fraud if they pressed charges. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Because, I'm an analyst for them. They've promoted me to investigate the attacks on supply stations and bases lately."  
  
Erika's eyes opened more. "Ah, so you're a brilliant mind too. Excellent. I hope you do more with your new life than just computations. You're enhanced, have you thought of martial arts? Well anyway, I've got places to go."  
  
"Need a flight?"  
  
"Nah, I'm a nano-droid too now." With that, the middle-aged scientist turned machine flew off into the night. Alyssa learned, using her internal radio interceptor, that a Red Ribbon fleet was going after the central Centra supply line base. She ran into the house, and prepared for her first nightly raid on the enemy. Removing her business suit and pants, she fluttered through her clothing for something that'd make a good impression for battle. The first article of clothing was a pair of very dark blue leg coverings that ran up to her underwear, and a blue miniskirt with belt that fit over it. Then, something she'd sewed together herself, a black sleeveless tank top with long, lined white sleeves sewed on was her next choice. To top it off, she slid a blue-jean vest over it and put on her brown leather cowboy boots. Fighting in cowboy boots wasn't good for your Achilles' tendon, but that was not a concern now that she was an cyborg. For this mission, though, she gently removed her earrings, and slid over her head a dark ski mask with eye and nose holes. Running excitedly, she flew off into the night.  
  
The darkness of the nighttime provided a sense of urgency for the mission at hand. She was prepared to personally stop an attack on a Centra base, and thus, make a secret identity for herself to hide behind as a hero. In addition, it would provide for her a chance to test out her newfound powers as a machine. Alyssa found out quickly that she liked the feeling of flying. It gave her a feeling of freedom now that she didn't have to drive everywhere that she went. She shook her head as she flew on; now was the time to focus her mind on the task that was at hand. It was a requirement that if she was indeed to go on with this idea of hers, her mind was going to have to be completely focused on the battle. The base came into view quickly as fast as she was flying, so she slowed down and concealed herself behind a series of crates, eagerly waiting for the enemy to arrive.  
  
"Is the base in view yet?" whispered the colonel over a secured radio line. The other soldiers in their tanks were waiting instruction from the colonel, who was in a vehicle near the back of the fleet.  
  
"Just a little further," replied a subordinate officer in the same low tone.  
  
"Excellent, now fan out and surround the complex with your tanks."  
  
"Affirmative, sir."  
  
The large fleet of tanks—all of which were running as slowly as possible so as not to reveal position before they had to—spread itself out like a puddle of water and gradually formed a circle around the large storage building. Alyssa, hiding behind a series of crates, crept rapidly from behind them and approached the side of one of the tanks. There were several cameras mounted on the sides and front of the tank so as to provide a sense of where they were going, so she carefully avoided them. Working quickly, she leaped on the front of the tank, and tore off of it the rotating turret portion. Several stunned soldiers looked with fear on the figure in front of them. One pulled a gun and began firing. Alyssa caught the bullets in midair and crushed them, then knocked out the tank passengers. As another tank was rotating its turret to face the victim one, she drove a mildly violent kick to the side of it, sending it sailing five hundred yards. From this position, she made a pattern of leaping from tank to tank, victimizing them.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" yelled Colonel Silver into his microphone as he saw tanks being destroyed by a masked female figure. Just as he was about to call for help, she blasted the antenna off his vehicle, and lifted the tank off the ground a few feet. A quick thrust later, and diesel fuel from the fuel tank sprayed onto the ground. Alyssa looked up and saw the giant search light passing near, so she leapt behind the final vehicle and pushed it forward a little. Almost an instant after the light passed over the ruptured war vehicle, a loud alarm began to sound. Alyssa took that as her cue to skidaddle.  
  
"Did you hear about this, Alyssa?" asked a co-worker the next day at Centra's main labs. She looked over at the television screen, which had on it video footage of a masked female figure. She grinned as she looked at her first fifteen minutes of fame, then resumed her straight face when looking at her buddy.  
  
"What's the deal with her?" asked Alyssa as though she didn't know.  
  
"You wouldn't believe it!" he cried. "She single-handedly took out an entire tank fleet of the Red Ribbon Army, sparing one of our largest bases!"  
  
"Wow!" exclaimed the hero herself. "She must be a machine, or something!" She began happily to walk away, when she happened to hear what was said next.  
  
"I doubt she'd last against Red Ribbon's secret weapon," the co-worker had said. "Some android sold to them by a Doctor Gero or something like that." Alyssa nervously whirled around.  
  
"What?" she asked. He turned to face her with a confused look on his face.  
  
"Uh, yeah. Doctor William Gero, old man, seventies or so. Builds androids up at his personal lab in the northern mountains. All professional scientists consider him a jerk."  
  
"Yeah, I guess that...would be an obstacle for her, huh?"  
  
The man shook his head. "Yup. Oh, and by the way, the android was made from a person too."  
  
So, it was her first day or two as a droid and she already had competition.  
  
She thought of what had gone down that day as she went about her normal day at Centra. Her competition was most likely going to be implemented now that she had made her presence semi-known against the Red Ribbon Army. The powers of this machine that she was up against now was a mystery to her, and she was eager to face off against it. It seemed to make sense to her now, because she had her life changed by a doctor Gero, perhaps this person who was now a cybernetic organism was changed too.  
  
"Alyssa?" excitedly inquired Mr. Abrems, her boss. "Did you hear the news? Someone's already making your job easier!" She smiled and gave a phony wave.  
  
"Yeah," she said in a tone that was fake. "I'm sure glad fate is smiling on me!" Part of her mission was to educate the teams that she was assigned to work with on how to upgrade the security on the bases for Centra labs. Personally, she didn't like them, because they all assumed that they knew more or were more educated than herself. The work day, a useful, purposeful learning experience, drew painfully slow to a close. The fall air meant that this time of year, the darkness drew closer quicker than had before.  
  
Her beautiful home was her ticket to a moment's peace, allowing her to grow excited as she intercepted another secret transmission. The Red Ribbon army wasn't attacking, but rather, a mafia organization was attempting to rob one of Centra's banks that held the company's immense financial records. She removed her business clothing and slipped into her android's attire—the same clothing that she had worn on the previous crusade.  
  
"Never fear, Juuhachigou's here!" she jokingly announced to herself. She took a running leap from the door step. 


	2. Chapter Two

My Life As I Knew It  
  
By Moonraker One  
  
A/N: I'm sorry I'm skimming, but this is my first romance story and I've decided to skip the break parts.  
  
CHAPTER TWO - Breaking the Mafia  
  
Slowly but surely, she made her way in secret to the compound where Centra kept the vast majority of their financial bank records. It was this building that served as the bank for the massive company that Alyssa worked for. With her knowledge of the Mafia, she understood full well why they would want to try and attack the financial complex of one of the largest companies that was in the area of West city. The enemy had already taken most of the front entrances, and neutralized most of the guards that were on duty, so she had to enter through the side. The steel door that protected the side entrance she forcefully removed, albeit as quietly as possible, and snuck in. Creeping past the many rows of server systems, she saw a group of about thirty armed men gathered around one man who was typing away at a laptop that was connected to the primary monetary control server. Setting her sound sensors to "audio enhance," she listened to their conversation from three hundred yards away. So far, the leader was having trouble hacking through the network firewall. She had a perfect idea on how to stall them.  
  
/This ought to slow you down/, she thought as she extended a small "wire" from the tip of her finger into the data transmission port of the secondary network server. Within the space of a second, she had a counter-program coded and transmitted onto the hard drive of the system. Suddenly, as the hacker for the mafia men was about to break the firewall, the system seemed to lock up on him. He silently screamed as he furiously typed away at the keyboard. She smiled and crept towards the group.  
  
"John!" whispered the leader of the group. "I thought I heard someone, so do a check!" The man behind him turned around, cocked his weapon, and took about two steps in the opposite direction when a fist met his head with just enough force to send him unconsciously to the ground. Another man beside the leader turned and fired his silenced weapon, except it was kicked from his grasp after two shots. Before he could react, the same foot introduced itself to his forehead, sending him to the ground as well. One by one, in less than a minute, all thirty men were on the ground. Alyssa stood and marveled at her work; more than thirty armed mafia men, all of which were trained to break into the most difficult of places and defeat the deadliest of people, were down in seconds. Alyssa knew she was going to have to go back to Erika and thank her for this gift. Just as she was about to fly off in the opposing direction, a cloaked figure swung a fist at her with just enough force to send her flying through six rows of computers.  
  
/What the hell was that?!/ thought Alyssa as she slinked out of the complex via a hole in the wall she made with her fist. The fact that the alarms systems were taken out were surprising to her, considering that the Mafia men didn't need to neutralize them to break in. It was then that she saw it; a Red Ribbon army transport vehicle. Walking backwards away from the building, she bumped into the cloaked figure. Rapidly, she whirled around just to be introduced to a hard kick. She stood up firmly and attempted to gather herself to fight back, but was uppercut before she had the chance. /Whoever this freak is/, she thought, /has some serious power./  
  
Increasing her internal power source's power output from a tenth to half power, she found that his fists came just a bit slower than before. The figure, wearing a thick cloak over his head, took to the air in pursuit of her, and continued to press the attack. Careful to dodge his vicious attacks, she loaded her internal martial arts program, and skillfully began to counter his brutal attacks. The darkness was a hinderance to her, but that was quickly remedied by activating image enhance. He obviously wasn't affected by the darkness, and such was evident when he flew back at her after a angry counter attack. A rapidly calculated punch caught itself right on the upswing at her stomach, drawing her back a bit. However, it did not affect her because she was a cybernetic organism. Impressed—but not surprised—at her taking a punch full on without flinching, he improved the speed and momentum of his attacks just in time to stop her powerful counterstrike.  
  
Alyssa realized she was not going to win at this level, so she increased her internal power output to sixty-five percent power. Her opponent was obviously a cyborg like her, because like her his power was only obvious to himself. Somehow, although his forceful strikes were well-calculated, an opening in his pattern arose for her to take full advantage of with an elbow. With the fist on the same arm, she backhanded him in the face. An upward kick sent him higher into the sky, but was abruptly cancelled when she appeared above him and struck him with an axe-handle smash.  
  
"Don't play me for a fool," she said, not caring who was hearing. "I know you're better than that. Why don't you come up?" Rising quickly from the crater he formed from his impact, he stared hard into her eyes.  
  
"You're voice...you CAN'T be..." he whispered. "Don't tell me..Alyssa?!"  
  
"How the hell do you know my name?!" inquired an uneasy Alyssa. Her answer came the instant he removed the cloak from on him. She couldn't believe what she saw; the shoulder-length jet black hair and scarf were unmistakable.  
  
"JACK?!" She removed her ski mask.  
  
"ALYSSA?!"  
  
A whole minute passed before either moved or even blinked. Colonel Silver, who Alyssa decided against killing on her previous mission, ran up to the area immediately below the two of them. "What are you doing?!" he shouted. "FIGHT BACK, JUUNANAGOU!" Hearing the words, Jack had a bit of a problem on his hands. One one side, he was bound by the oath he took after being sold to the Red Ribbon army; on the other, Alyssa was his sister and by what he could see of her fighting, more powerful than him as well. He didn't know how to go about solving this little equation. Alyssa shot him a look, and analyzed the situation at hand.  
  
/Hey, Jack/, she told her brother using her secret communications device, /why don't you pretend to lose to me, and if they buy it, I'll blow up their main transport vehicle to force them to leave./  
  
/That's a good idea!/ he cried, over the secret comms. /According to my calculations, there's a seventy-five percent chance that in the struggle to escape alive, they'll leave me behind./  
  
With that said, Alyssa drove a kick hard to the side of Jack's head. Not even a second later, she pointed two fingers in the direction of the main transport vehicle and blew it to pieces with a release of ki. Dust, dirt, and a few soldiers were thrown many feet by the shockwave. The shouting soldiers quickly got back in their jeeps and tanks and got the hell out of there as fast as their wheels could carry them. The yelling and disorderly exodus of the soldiers reminded the female nano-cyborg of lemmings. Afterwards, a grin made it across Alyssa's face as her brother Jack surfaced from behind a series of crates. Before he made his presence too known, she used her infrared vision mode to scan the immediate area for body heat of soldiers, but found none. He then flew up to her position in the sky.  
  
"You are quite a strategist," Jack said of her quick-yet-excellent plan.  
  
"You're not a bad fighter," Alyssa said of her skirmish with him.  
  
Roughly a month from the time that she became reunited with her twin brother, she began to realize the uselessness of working for Centra Laboratories. With her money flowing into a large savings account, she brought herself ever closer to a dream of hers that had been brewing for quite some time. Her brother Jack found a job of his own working at a martial arts dojo.  
  
Finally, on a boring Tuesday morning, it happened.  
  
"How are you doing today, Alyssa?" inquried Abrems, her main boss. She stopped him as he proceeded down the hall, and faced him with a smile.  
  
"Mister Abrems," she told him, "I'm sorry to say it but consider this my two week's notice." The look on his face indicated that he did not understand; she worked at this place for the better portion of a year and a half. What could possibly be better paying than the job she had? Perhaps, he thought, it wasn't the money.  
  
"May I ask why you're leaving?" Abrems asked, a hint of concern on his face. She smiled.  
  
"I'm finally realizing my dream," she simply told him. Those words would be the last he'd hear of her after the two weeks were up.  
  
"Are you sure this piece of land is what you want?" the realtor's voice seemed to be a mile away from Alyssa as she stood at the place down from the mountain. The land, to her, was perfect: it had the right altitude for a mountain village, it was not too secluded, and gave a sense of peace as the nearby river flowed gently. From the time she left her job, to the time where she searched for the land was about a half-week. The time it took her to decided that the land was perfect was about two blinks of an eye. Young Alyssa Martin gave the realtor a quickl glance.  
  
"I'll take it!" she happily cried.  
  
At this point, she could visualize the next year, as her dream was constructed. Slowly but surely, one by one, the pieces of wood and metal came from the city as local villagers and the twins themselves worked on it. At the end of the construction process, everyone stood in front of the building and marveled at their creation. In front of them, on what was once two acres or so of useless land, now stood her dream.  
  
"What'll you call it, Alyssa?" a local villager asked. The young woman looked at a person who now was a friend.  
  
"This'll be the 'Martin School of the Eastern District,'" responded Alyssa. "I'll be hiring teachers from the villages in a thirty-mile radius of the school, and this way, the parents won't have to send their kids to a far-off city for schooling!" Jack stepped out from the crowd.  
  
"What can I teach?" asked Jack. Alyssa did not think of that. Attempting to bring to mind the skills he possessed, she drew a blank. Inevitably, though, she wondered why she hadn't seen it before.  
  
"You can teach martial arts during P.E.!"  
  
Yes, Life was good.  
  
BRRING!  
  
As boring as it was for the students, Alyssa Martin couldn't help but think of how good it was when the morning and afternoon bells rang. Although forty teachers each kept the village children busy, Alyssa herself desperately wanted to actually teach rather than just run the school, so she taught the subject she was best at: math. Now, close to a year and a half of teaching, she realized that nothing gave her happiness more. Nothing more than seeing her pupils succeed.  
  
"Okay class!" she announced. "I'll see you on Monday, and don't forget that parent-teacher conferences are this Saturday!" Most of the students, as expected, dashed out of the classroom as fast as possible. One student, a young boy about age eight, kept to himself in the back of the class and worked on his homework. The school traditionally closed at four o' clock, so she approached him.  
  
"Son Gohan?" she asked. "Aren't you going to go home?" The young boy looked up from his assignment.  
  
"Not right away, ma'am," he told her. "My dad won't really be waiting for me when I get home, he just expects me to get home before sundown." Alyssa almost laughed to herself about what was just said; such a tactic was horrible parenting. Then again, since he said "dad" and not "parents," she guessed that maybe his father was a single parent. She sat down at the desk immediately in front of her pupil.  
  
"You seem to be doing very well in your classes," she told him, "so nothing would indicate a problem. Is something wrong, Gohan? I mean, with your family and all? It's okay if you don't want to say it."  
  
"No, it's okay." Alyssa sensed that in that sentence, Gohan felt as though he had to say it. "My mother died almost a year ago. My father tried to kill himself twice. Nowadays, he trains martial arts to get his mind off of her. Have you heard of the Dragonballs?"  
  
That piqued her interest. "Yeah, a legend of some mystical ornaments that give a wish to whomever gathers them."  
  
"Well," Gohan continued, "they're in a museum. My dad was almost arrested twice for trying to break into the museum." It was kind of against the rules, but she said it nonetheless.  
  
"Gohan," she explained, "can I walk you home today?"  
  
The pair walked the entire three miles to his house at four-nineteen, giving their life stories to each other along the way there. It simply amazed her that a kid could stay sane in such extreme conditions that he had to endure. Alyssa knew she grew up with loving parents and a caring home. Gohan, her student and pupil, had one of his loving parents taken away from him and now had a father who couldn't go on. She doubted her own self if she was forced to undergo those same conditions. Then again, this place seemed to calm the soul, so maybe that was the reason that Gohan was able to withstand the situation.  
  
"Well, we're here, so I guess I'll be going," Alyssa started to say as they arrived at his house.  
  
"No, stay for dinner!" cried Gohan. He pulled open the door, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Daddy! My teacher's here for dinner with us!" For a minute or so, nothing happened, but then, she followed Gohan into the house. Feeling slightly out of place, Alyssa made sure her hair was kept up, and looked around; for a single father, the place was sure kept in good condition.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Goku," said Alyssa as she sat down at the dinner table. Goku had on his face the phoniest smile someone could possibly have; her woman's intuition told her that he was in worse emotional condition than she thought. This was clearly a shell of a man.  
  
"Are you...Ms. Martin?" he asked. "What brings you to my humble abode?" He turned off the heat to the stove. Another surprise; for someone in this bad of a emotional state, he could cook halfway decent. From the smell, the beef stew actually smelled like decent food. She looked at him, analyzing his facial expression.  
  
"Yeah," she continued. "For a single father, you sure keep things in good order." He actually chuckled; a third surprise.  
  
"My wife," he said. "Died eight months ago. She always used to complain that I never kept the house clean." From his eyes, she could tell that he was fighting off tears like it was going out of style. These memories were of the worst kind. Gohan, taking it as his cue to get some more material for the third-of-the-way finished stew, left to kill some more meat. He knew exactly how much his father was going to eat—if he ate—and how much he would eat. The instant he dashed outside, Alyssa tried to start a decent conversation.  
  
"Well," exclaimed Alyssa, desperately scrounging for something to say. "You cook well for a father. I've never met a man who could cook anything that wasn't microwaveable." His fake smile got faker, against all she believed.  
  
"I grew up in the woods," he admitted. "One thing I knew was how to cook."  
  
"Tell me something, Mr. Goku..."  
  
"Please call me Goku without the mister," he interrupted.  
  
"Tell me, Goku, do you keep track of your son's grades?"  
  
"Oh yes. Again, my wife..." he stammered mid-sentence. She didn't want to bring him to tears. Somehow, he forced back the tears and demanded that his voice speak. It did. However, it spoke with a faltering tone. "...my wife kept track of his studies like a hawk and I didn't really care as long as he was healthy and happy. I guess I kind of..."  
  
"Did it in memory of her," Alyssa finished his sentence. She realized that this conversation was not going to end well. So, as she stood up, she continued with, "Mr. Goku, I really must be going..." Before she could rise, he put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"No, please stay," he tried to say mildly. She could sense, however, that it wasn't a request. It was a PLEAD. With her woman's intuition, this was the tone of a man who desperately was clinging onto a last-chance hope. Perhaps, she thought, he was trying to cure his inner sorrow. During the unbearable silence, he began to rub her shoulder in a circular motion. Looking at his hand, she realized, this was a touch of a person who, above all else, needed love in his heart. At this point, there was no way she could stay.  
  
"Sorry. I must go," she said. Struggling for another thing to say, she lied, "I've got a meeting to get to."  
  
With that, she exited the dome-shaped house and tore off at top speed for her mountain home.  
  
/What was that about?!/ she thought to herself as she slipped off her business suit. /That man is in dire straights. He's going to completely self-destruct if he doesn't do something./ Letting her hair down, she walked through the hallway and into the shower in the bathroom. She could do nothing except think to herself as the warm water streaked down her naked figure. Using her internal modem, she logged onto federal records to find out about the mysterious Son Goku. What she found was incredible.  
  
/Wow,/ she thought. /Two-time world tournament champion. Married to a Chi-Chi Mao after defeating Piccolo at the world tournament. When she died of a blood clot in her lung, his record has not two, but THREE suicide attempts, followed by a five-month stint at a mental hospital./  
  
"Baba," Goku said as he visited the fortune teller. "Can't you take me to see my wife?!" He collared her. "I saved the whole world from Piccolo Daimyo and his son, and the red ribbon army! DON'T I DESERVE SOMETHING?!"  
  
"Goku," she told him, "the other world regulations say I can't bring Chi-Chi to you unless King Yemma thinks you've improved."  
  
/What's the big deal that put him in a mental institution for FIVE MONTHS?!/ thought Alyssa as she sat down. Suddenly, though, she found out that the federal records had since been updated. A later autopsy revealed that his wife was killed by a murderer. She flew off to visit a personal friend.  
  
The office of local sheriff was full of robbers that were being incarcerated. The deputy smiled as a familiar face appeared. "What can I do for you, Miss Martin?"  
  
She cleared her throat. "I want to know what happened to Son Goku after his wife died." It seemed to be a dark memory.  
  
"Miss Martin?" he told her. "Scary investigation. A 'Johnathan Clarksen' guy, wanted fugitive escapee, made his way to Goku's house when he and his son were gone. Mother was raped then murdered. Father came home a day prior to his son, and must've found the Clarksen guy still there." His eyes dimmed. "This's the freaky part; in a moment of anger, Goku killed the man. Snapped a grown man's back like a twig. Later declared innocent due to temporary insanity, he spent about five months in a correctional institution."  
  
She cringed; obviously, this was a man who was worse than she could ever have expected. A number of questions streamed through her mind. The primary one was, how could a man that experienced such a traumatic incident raise a son as normally as he did? 


End file.
